DSiWare may be cool, but Nintendo of America President's sales job isn't

Nintendo yesterday launched the Nintendo DSi and the accompanying DSiWare digital distribution system. While many are comparing the download service to Apple's App Store, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime says DSiWare improves on the iTunes formula by offering fewer, but higher-quality games and applications.

Fils-Aime recently detailed his less-is-more philosophy with Wired, likening WiiWare's "high-class" content to a film festival as opposed to the App Store's "everything under the sun" YouTube-like approach.

Wired, April 3: Part of it is that what you've described with an iPhone is very different than what we envision with DSiWare, and that is, we want a more limited number of breakthrough applications and games, not a litany of thousands upon thousands of applications that really don't excite the consumer very much.

Having attended a less-than-stellar film at the Ann Arbor film festival last week and cracked up at several YouTube videos since, I'm not sure the analogy is a successful one. In fact, after watching the film on mashup artists at the festival, I went home and found much more compelling mashup content on YouTube.

Both YouTube and the App Store allow content-creators to upload and monetize their work, and both provide users with front-end mechanisms for finding the best of that content.

Fils-Aime though, refused to acknowledge the power of the collective in an interview last week with Venture Beat.

VB: So the distinction you are making is that you favor professionally-made games over amateur work?

RFA: Yes. That is what distinguishes WiiWare from what our competitors are doing. We believe this community of 18,000 developers can create much more compelling content than something home-brewed.

DSiWare may end up being more useful for gamers in the long-run if Nintendo can follow through on its 18,000 developers promise, but to dismiss App Store offerings as low-art screams snobbery.

So too does Fils-Aime's assertion that used games aren't in the best interest of the consumer.

VentureBeat, March 31: More and more retailers are experimenting with the used game model. We don't believe used games are in the best interest of the consumer. We have products that consumers want to hold onto. They want to play all of the levels of a Zelda game and unlock all of the levels. A game like Personal Trainer Cooking has a long life. We believe used games aren't in the consumer's best interest.

Describe another form of entertainment that has a vibrant used goods market. Used books have never taken off. You don't see businesses selling used music CDs or used DVDs. Why? The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again. If you create the right type of experience, that also happens in video games.

Umm... You do see business selling used CDs and DVDs, and while it may not be an overwhelmingly successful enterprise, the lack of demand likely owes much to the relatively inexpensive purchase price of a new product. With new video games costing upwards of $50, it's somewhat absurd to say the used game market isn't in the best interest of consumers.

While I'm a bit slow to sell my games (especially those I hold dear), I'm always interested in buying used games. It's in the best interest of my wallet.

If early reviews are any indication, the Nintendo DSi and DSiWare likely will be much more sucessful than Fils-Aime's sales job.